Broken HU Cards :(

[dingsbums]

Hi guys 

So a few months ago the CD part of my Duo-R died. I got a cheap Duo Engine as a replacement - I modded it for RGB, recapped it, cleaned & recreased the laser unit and - it had a really ugly
region mod - so I removed that and made a new region mod with a nice switch  .
Of course I grabbed a stack of JP / US games to test if everything work as expected - the first few games work perfect and everything is great  - then I put F1 Circus 92 (switch on Japan of course) and it doesn't work - no problem right  : - I get 95% alcohol and a few q-tips and clean the HU Card. It was clean before but now it's REALLY superclean, try it again => doesn't work 
I know it worked before (because I played that awful game for too long) and just to be sure I test it on my Super Grafx - doesn't work also  .

So of course I had to do the inevitable => test all HU Cards (around 300  ). Luckily enough F1 Circus 92 is the only game that died (I would not even think about it if it happened to Coryoon or Parasol Stars).

But that leaves me with a few questions:

Did it also happen to you guys that a working HU Card suddenly died ?
What parts on the HU Cards are most likely to fail ?
Could it be fixed ?

PS: I'm in the market for a loose F1 Circus 92 HU Card .
PPS: Just a reminder - Check your games  .

[thesteve]

yes they rarely die
even more rarely fixable (corrosion can be fixed, but chip failure its over)
the duo-r is fixable

[Dicer]

I have a broken salamander, tried the drier trick no dice, just dead...

[elderbroom]

Bucci had a Super Star Soldier die as he was about to beat the game (in his Turbo Views review).  Recall he got a replacement to accomplish his mission (because he's just that kind of guy)  But I think he's now giving that broken copy away (as one of a few possible prizes) in his 10k subscribers contest. So sounds like it can happen, and in most cases they are toast.

[NightWolve]

I killed one HuCard and one alone in my time but it wasn't my fault. So after my new Turbo Express arrived, I popped it open, got it set up and the first game I wanted to try was Bloody Wolf. When I tried to push the card in, the contact pins were tight as ALL hell and I had to force it in quite a bit... That sure as hell was not normal compared to the TG-16 system I had won (which the game came with) is what I clearly remember...

Anyway, all I would get was a black screen after turning it on, it wouldn't boot. So I pulled it out, kept trying again... Well, 2nd or 3rd try it wasn't as tight anymore, but still, no screen. Then I tried Keith Courage which worked, so I had an 'uh-oh' moment, realizing the problem is no longer with the Express, it's the HuCard... So, I went to my TG-16 system, tried Bloody Wolf there and sure enough, it no longer worked on it either... Never had a problem with it before, so it didn't happen before this...

So, there ya go... One dead HuCard thanks to one tight Turbo Express... Fair warning.

[Tatsujin]

most died huyes I had seen so far were salamanders

3 so far. one of mine and two from buddies.

[Redfield1]

I got two PC Genjin 2 and a Honô no Tôkyûji: Dodge Danpei. This last one was new but dead.

[turbokon]

I had someone sent me a salamander hucard to test to see if it was dead and it was.

[BlueBMW]

Now Im going to go pull out my Salamander to make sure its still good...

[thesteve]

i have a failed DE
not dead, but corrupted grafix and card gets hot

[imparanoic]

I have had a dead final soldier, pc genjin 2 and street fighter 2

[ifkz]

As a collector, this thread scares the hell outta me.  I have one that's on the way out:  a recently forum purchased Tailspin.  It looks great, the intro text is corrupted though.  There was another member here that had a Tailspin that would still run but all graphics were bad.

What is the hairdryer trick?

[johnnymad]

Not certain, but I imagine you run the hair dryer over the card for a while to possibly reflow the solder. Wait till someone important confirms that though.

[Dicer]

As a collector, this thread scares the hell outta me.  I have one that's on the way out:  a recently forum purchased Tailspin.  It looks great, the intro text is corrupted though.  There was another member here that had a Tailspin that would still run but all graphics were bad.

What is the hairdryer trick?

Heating the card so the blobs/traces inside reconnect...

attach a clamp to the bottom of the huey and aim the dryer at the top there is talk somehwere about I'll see if I can dig it up.

[roflmao]

Bernie is an expert in the hair dryer trick. He's a freaking wizard with one.